DC K.O. hit the top of the October comic book sales charts. A comic retailer has been arrested for giving away a Grendel comic on Halloween. BOOM! Studios has grabbed the My Little Pony license from IDW.
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Episode Transcript:
DC K.O. hits top of sales chart.
Comic retailer arrested for giving away comic.
BOOM! gets My Little Pony license.
This is Comic Book Club News for November 5, 2025.
DC K.O. #1 Hits Top Of October Comic Book Sales Charts:
DC K.O. #1 hit the top of the comic book sales charts, with DC Comics taking 14 spots in the Top 50 overall.
Per ICv2, Absolute Batman #13 was hot on the event title’s heels at number two, with the Absolute Batman annual coming in at number four. Absolute Wonder Woman and regular old Batman also hit the Top 10. And overall, only DC K.O. tie-ins, Batman books, and Absolute Universe books hit from DC, with the exception of the final issue of New History of the DC Universe.
Marvel had a lighter month than usual, though still captured 29 slots in the Top 50. The highest ranking book was Ultimate Spider-Man #22 at number seven, with Amazing Spider-Man #14 coming in at number nine.
Image Comics popped into the Top 10 for the first time in a long time with Transformers #25 at number five, kicking off a new run by Robert Kirkman and Dan Mora. But the publisher only nabbed three more slots, for issues of Battle Beast, G.I. Joe, and Exquisite Corpses. Other publishers include Dynamite for the first issue of its Harley Quinn x Elvira crossover, and IDW for TMNT #12, the final issue of Jason Aaron’s run.
However, the big winner, and stealth biggest story in comics sales of the past few years, is Mark Spears Monsters: The Monster & The Wolf #1, which came in at number three on the list. A large part of the reason for that? The book came with Trick or Treat Blind Bags which hid 90 different covers, all drawn by Spears. Definitely a trick, but here’s hoping those who picked up the book considered it a treat, as well.
Comic Retailer Arrested For Giving Away Grendel Comic On Halloween:
Parents, always be sure to check your children’s candy on Halloween, you never know when they might be hiding a comic book for adults. Or, less glibly, a comic book retailer has been arrested and charged with a felony for giving away a copy of Grendel Tales: Devil’s Hammer #1 to a kid on Halloween.
First reported by WECT, and followed by the Raleigh News and Observer, Kathleen Lincoln, the owner of Marvelous Issues Comic Shop in North Carolina, was giving away comics at the Sunset Beach Police Department’s annual Trunk or Treat event — a Halloween trail with giveaways for kids on October 30, when according to the Department she handed out the copy of Grendel Tales.
However, once parents reported the copy of the comic to police, Lincoln was arrested on charges of “obscene literature and exhibitions” which is a Class G Felony. While Lincoln has not released a statement about the arrest, the store did post a picture of Abraham Lincoln mourning, drawn by cartoonist Bill Maudlin, on Instagram, with the caption, “We’re gonna be closed for a little while.”
The book in question was published in 1994 by Dark Horse, and written and drawn by Rob Walton based in the world of Grendel created by Matt Wagner. The cover is clearly marked as “Not for Children,” and in the pages, at least in the Grendel Omnibus Volume 5 which collected the three issue series among other Grendel stories in 2024, the issue does contain images of male and female genital mutilation, full-frontal male nudity both seen from afar and in close-up, and a pants-less character urinating on a decapitated corpse.
While Lincoln could not discuss the case until it was dismissed, over email she told Comic Book Club that, “Comics are protected by the 1st amendment… They are artists creations… Art like statue of david. Already law set by Supreme Court.”
We’ve also reached out to Dark Horse and Wagner but did not receive a response as of recording time.
BOOM! Studios Gets My Little Pony License:
Back during New York Comic Con, BOOM! Studios announced it had snagged the license for Jem and the Holograms from IDW. Well, turns out they heisted more than one Hasbro property, as they’ve also grabbed My Little Pony.
Per Publisher’s Weekly, Like with Jem, which will launch a Kickstarter for a collection of older comics this month, followed by a new series in 2026, My Little Pony will also launch a deluxe edition campaign at some point, followed by new comic books focusing on the Friendship is Magic cartoon.
IDW previously held the rights to these licenses since 2012 for My Little Pony and 2015 for Jem and the Holograms.
For Comic Book Club News, I’m Alex Zalben. And I bet if you did 500,000 covers you could have the best-selling comic of the year!
Got tips or stories you’d like us to cover? Email us at comicbookclublive@gmail.com.
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